Plasmas have numerous applications in research and industry. For instance, plasmas may be utilized for one or both of plasma-assisted etching and plasma-assisted deposition during fabrication of semiconductor devices. As another example, plasmas may be utilized in analytical devices, such as mass spectrometers and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICPAES) devices. As yet another example, plasmas may be utilized in displays to induce visible changes in phosphors or other materials.
Although there are many uses for plasmas, the utilization of plasmas has been hindered by difficulties encountered in fabricating plasma-generating structures. Such structures are often large and expensive. There have been some efforts to develop arrays of plasma-generating microstructures by micromachining. Such arrays could be useful in numerous applications if they could be cheaply produced within desired tolerances. It would be desirable to develop new methods for fabrication of plasma-generating structures that may be incorporated into existing fabrication processes, and that can form arrays of plasma-generating microstructures. It would also be desirable to develop new assemblies and uses for the plasma-generating microstructures.